Иран қылышы: Шамшыр тарихы мен сипаттамасы

Type of Persian/Iranian curved sword

A shamshir (شمشیر) is a type of Persian/Iranian sword with a radical curve. The name is derived from the Persian word shamshīr, which is made of two words sham(fang) and shir(lion)". The curved "scimitar" sword family includes the shamshir, kilij, talwar, pulwar, and nimcha. A shamshir shekargar (شمشیر شکارگر) is the same as a shamshir, except the blade is engraved and decorated, usually with hunting scenes.

Originally, Persian swords were straight and double edged. Curved sabre blades were Central Asian in origin. There is considerable disagreement between historians as to when these curved blades were first introduced from Central Asia into Persia, and over what period they became adopted and modified into the recognizable Shamshir. Curved blades began to appear in Persia in the 9th century, when these weapons were used by soldiers in the Khorasan region of Central Asia but were not widely adopted. The sword now called a "shamshir" was developed in Persia over a period of time following influence from the Turkic Seljuk Khanate in the 12th century, the Mongol invasion of the 13th century, and finally taking a form distinct from earlier sabres by the 16th century. the word has been used to mean "sword" since ancient times, as attested by Middle Persian shamshir (Pahlavi šmšyl), and the Ancient Greek σαμψήρα / sampsēra (glossed as "foreign sword"). "Shamshir" is usually taken to be the root of the word scimitar, the latter being a broader term.